Joel Osteen Podcast - You Have Inside Information | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: February 8, 2024

We all have access to inside information to help us make the best decisions for our future. When you keep your spiritual ears tuned into God’s voice, there’s no limit to what He can do in your life.Your best days are still ahead, and together we can make a difference in this world with the message of God's hope and love. To give visitJoelOsteen.com/GiveHope.You are not average, not ordinary. You Are a Masterpiece created in God’s image. Our February offer has extraordinary promises of God to give you mental, physical, and spiritual strength. Grow stronger each day seeing yourself the way God sees you! Request your copy now, https://bit.ly/490TjEF.  Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of the Joel Osteen Podcast ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast. 2024 is going to be an amazing year for you and your family. Know that we're praying for you. So get ready. Keep your expectations up. It's going to be a great year. Hope you enjoy today's message. Well, God bless you. It is always a joy to come into your homes. We love you. If you're ever in our area, please stop by. Be a part of one of our services. I promise you, we'll make you feel right at home. But thanks for tuning in.

today. Again, thanks for coming out. I like to start with something funny. And one day, Adam was talking to God. And he said, God, why did you make Eve so beautiful? God said, so you would love her. He said, well, God, why did you give her such long, flowing hair? God said the same thing. So you'd love her. Well, God, why did you give her such a great figure? God said it again. So you'd love her. Adam said, all right, God. You made her so beautiful, so attractive. Why'd you make her so dumb? God said that's easy, Adam, so she would love you. Hold up your Bible, say it like you mean it. This is my Bible.

I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess, my mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will never be the same. In Jesus' name, God bless you. I want to talk to you today about how you have inside information.

We don't have to go through life guessing what we should do. We have a helper. The Holy Spirit lives on the inside of every believer. He is there to lead us, to guide us, to help us make great decisions. And if you're going to fulfill your destiny, you have to be sensitive to what God's saying to you. He wants to give you inside information about your faith. family, about your career, about your future. But it's not going to come to your head. It's not going

come through your emotions. It's going to come to your spirit person. God speaks to us in a still small voice. It's a knowing down in here, a prompting, a suggestion. It may not make sense to our mind. Our emotions may be telling us otherwise. But deep down in our heart, we know that we know it's the right thing. Jesus put it this way. He that has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying. If you're going to have this inside information, you have to have your ears tuned to the right frequency. I think about how right now there are hundreds of radio frequencies in the air, hundreds of television signals all around us. Why aren't we receiving any of them? We don't have a tuner. All we'd have to do is get a radio. tune it to the right frequency, and we would hear what the channel is saying.

I'm asking you today to make sure you keep your spiritual ears tuned to what God is saying. Don't go your whole life with all this inside information that's available, but you never tap into it because you're on the wrong frequency. You only listen to your mind, your emotions, what other people are telling you. And that's fine, but there's another frequency. There's a higher power. And God is constantly transmitting. The question is, do we have our receivers tuned?

You have to get quiet and be sensitive to what you're feeling down in here. It's not going to be a loud, booming voice. It's going to be an impression. All of a sudden, an idea comes up out of nowhere. Or you have a desire to go check on your children, a prompting to go to a certain place. It's like a suggestion came up. And if you're not sensitive, you'll just dismiss it and think, oh, that's just me. I'm daydreaming again.

know you'll miss what God is saying. I have a friend that used to do work for us and one day I saw him and it looked like he'd been in some kind of accident. He had big black eyes and his face was all bruised. He'd been so beaten up. I said, what in the world happened to you? Were you in a wreck? He began to explain how the night before driving home, he had gotten carjacked. He stopped at this light and these guys came up and wanted his wallet. He didn't have one so they pulled him out of the car and beat him up and just left in there. He said something very interesting. He said, Joel, the funny thing is, when I was driving home, something told me to not go that way. Right down in here, as clear as can be, something said, you need to take another route home. It was so distinct,

so strong that he even debated it in his mind. He thought, why should I go another route? This is the way I always go. This is the quickest way home. This young man, wasn't someone we'd consider to be a religious type person, but he said, I know that was God trying to warn me, and next time I'm going to listen. Friends, God will give you inside information to protect you from danger. He will warn you when there's something bad up ahead. He'll give you inside information about your career. One scripture says that God will give his people witty inventions. That means God can give you ideas ahead of your time. God can give you inside information about your children.

He can show you things that you normally would not have known. I remember when I was growing up, one time my parents were out of town. They had a rule that whenever they were gone, none of us, five children, could spend the night with anyone else. We had to stay at our own home. Well, my sister Tamara had a good friend.

They were both cheerleaders. and the next morning they had to be at a ballgame very early. And the girl's mother was already planning to come by and pick Tamara up. And at the last minute, this friend asked Tamara to spend the night. And all of us kids decided, since it was already arranged, that it was no big deal. Tamara could spend the night. After all, our parents would never find out about it. So Tamara went over there, and that evening my mother called, like she always does.

And Lisa answered the phone. out of nowhere, my mother said, Lisa, where is Paul? Lisa said, Paul's right here. Lisa, where is Joel? Joel's right here. Where's April? She's right here. Well, Lisa, where is Tamara? Lisa, to begin to stutter and stumble. Uh, uh, uh, uh, mother, Tamara's not here right now. Well, where is she? Uh, uh, uh, she's outside. Well, would you go get her? I would like to talk to her. Somehow, some way, my mother knew Tamara was not at home. That liked to scared me to death. No wonder I never did anything wrong. I told my friends, it's not fair. I can't get away with anything. God tells my parents. What was that? Inside information to raise our children. I love this story in the Old Testament

when this major army was trying to overtake the people of Israel. But every time this army made a move, the Israelites knew about it and would beat them there. If the army planned on attacking from the north, the Israelites would be there waiting. If they planned to sneak up in the middle of the night and surprise them, the Israelites would be up, prepared for battle. No matter what this army did,

the Israelites were always one step ahead. The commander of that enemy army got so frustrated he thought there was a spy. He called his men and said, listen, someone is a traitor. Somebody's leaking valuable. information. I need to know who it is. One of the captains spoke up and said, sir, it's none of us. Here's the problem. There's a prophet over in Israel. And everything you whisper to us in secret,

God tells him and he announces to the people in public. Friends, you and I have an advantage. If you will be sensitive to what you're hearing down in here, God will not only protect you from danger, but he will even tell you what your enemy is going to do next. You talk about having the upper hand. Somebody's trying to block you at the office, talk bad about you, ruin your reputation. They think they're putting up a barrier. What they don't realize is God's already shown you how to go around.

You're always one step ahead. They're looking back waiting for you, but you've moved forward. You had inside information. What am I saying? If you will stay tuned to the right frequency, you will have insight to know things that you normally would not. not have known an intuition and impression. Sometimes you just feel it down in here. You can't explain it. Doesn't make sense to your head. It's a knowing. Somebody asks you, how do you really know?

That's the right thing. How do you really know that's going to happen? Your answer is, I don't know how I know. I just know. I don't have any data backing me up. I don't have 10 years worth of research, but I do have the spirit of the most high God living on the inside. of me. I have a counselor, a helper, an advisor, a researcher. I am tuned to a frequency that gives me inside information.

I have a friend that bought some property years ago way out in the middle of nowhere. He hardly paid anything for it, less than $100 an acre. He bought over 300 acres. And in the natural, it looked like he had wasted his money.

The land was dry and barren. You couldn't raise cattle on You couldn't grow any crops. It was like the desert. He's just sand and cactus and clay. And ever so often he would go out there and check on it. And it always puzzled me as to why he purchased that property. I thought maybe he knows something that I don't know.

Maybe he's got family out that way. Maybe he's going to develop it. One day I got my nerve up and I asked him, why do you buy that land out there? What are you planning on doing with it? I'll never forget what he told me. He said, Joel, I don't really know why I bought it. I was just so drawn to it. When I saw it, I felt good about it.

I had peace and I knew it was right for me. In my mind, that was so odd. I thought to myself, Mr. you need to make better decisions than that. When you go to buy property, you need to research it. Find some valuable property, property that can increase, not go down. What I didn't realize was God had given him inside information. 15 years later, he got a certified letter from the state saying they were putting a new freeway in. It was going to go right through his property.

The state had to buy him out. He made over 100 times what he invested in that property. The next time he buys land, I'm going to buy right next door to him. This gentleman, he's an older man kind of country. And a reporter from that regional area was talking to him and said, sir, you really know how to pick a good piece of property. He smiled and said, yeah, my father told me about this place. The reporter perked up and said, I didn't know your father was in real estate. He pointed up and said, no, I'm talking about my heavenly father. He knows everything about everything. And I think about

all the places in the world he could have bought property. How could he have known to possibly choose that property? Here's how. He was tuned to the right frequency. He followed that impression down in here. It didn't make sense to his mind. His head said you're making a big mistake. But deep down in here, he knew that he knew it was the right thing for him. If you will follow that still small voice, God will lead you down the best path for your life. You too will come across supernatural opportunities, supernatural breaks. Like this man, there will be times that you make decisions that don't make a lot of sense in the natural. but deep down, you know it's the right thing for you.

My brother Paul, as you know, is a surgeon. He's in Kenya, Africa right now, and he's operating in one of the charity hospitals on the less fortunate people. He told how when he was there last year, this young Kenyan couple brought their one-month-old baby to him. The baby was very, very sick. Paul examined the little child

and diagnosed him with something called prolapse. that's very common in Africa is caused from malnutrition and from worms getting into the child system. And the way you treat it is by the proper diet and by pills to kill those worms. But it's not a diagnosis that requires any type of surgery. So Paul gave the pills to the little baby, went about his way. That night, 2 o'clock in the morning, Paul woke up wide awake thinking about that little baby. He could not get that child off of his mind. He had an unrest, a troubling in his spirit.

The next morning, first thing, he got to the hospital, he examined the little baby again to make sure he had not misdiagnosed the child. And he came away with the same conclusion. The child did not need any kind of surgery. Paul still didn't have peace. So he went to the little medical library, and he began to read every article he could find on that condition called prolapse.

everything said the same thing. The child doesn't require surgery. Paul still couldn't feel good about it. So he just stayed. Hour after hour, he began to research and find every article, every magazine, every textbook. Finally, he came across a little paragraph in an older textbook. It said, in extremely rare cases, prolapse can be confused with the serious blockage of the intestines that requires immediate surgery. When Paul read the, that, something leaped on the inside. It was like a light turned on. He rushed down to the hospital through an interpreter. He asked those Kenyan parents, can I have permission to operate on your little baby? I don't have all the tests to back it up, but I can sense something is wrong. They gave him permission. When Paul opened up the little child's belly, much to his amazement, he saw those bowels were black with gang green. They had become twisted where the blood supply had been cut off. 24 hours more, Paul said certainly the little child would have died. What is that? Inside information. The spirit of the most high God is alive on the inside of every believer.

You and I have an advantage. If we will be sensitive, God will give us insight into things we would not have normally known. God will give you wisdom to help other people. He'll give you wisdom to solve difficult problems. Not only that, God will give you discernment to know right from wrong, discernment to see through a phony and to know what is really true. And this is so important in our relationships, I've found that people are not always who they say they are. How they appear on the outside doesn't always match up to who they are on the inside. If you will listen, God will give you discernment. He will give you the ability to see through phoniness or someone that has ulterior motives. I know I've met people before and immediately I felt good about them.

Haven't known them for 10 minutes and something bears witness down in here. Then there are other people that I've met and they seem as nice as can be. They're friendly. But for some, reason I just can't get comfortable. Can't put my finger on it, but something is just not right. It doesn't mean they're not a good person, but I know they're not right for me. I've learned to just back off. That's God giving us discernment, giving us wisdom to make good decisions. You're not always going to understand why you feel a certain way. You may not be able to explain it. Does it make sense to your mind? Don't try to figure it out. Just trust what God is say until you. He knows what's best. And really, God is the only one that knows what people are really

like. He can see through the service down to a person's heart. Not everyone that appears nice and kind is all that they're cracked up to be. Some people have ulterior motives. They want to be your friend for what you can do for them and how you can make their life better. They are takers and never forgivers. Once they use you up, they'll move on to somebody else. If you'll be sensitive, God will warn you about people like that. You'll feel alarm in your spirit and unrest down in here. What is that? God giving you inside information. I met a man years ago. He seemed as good as gold, kind, friendly, said all the right things. Other people I knew liked him. But from day one, I had an uneasiness. Something down in here said, Joel.

don't get close to him. Be careful what you say around him. Don't let your guard down. My mind said, Joel, quit being overly sensitive. Lighten up a little bit. He's a good man. Down in here, the alarm kept going off. No, no, danger, trouble. Something's not right. I paid attention to what I was feeling. I followed that peace and never got close to him. Sure enough, it came out years later. He was not who he said he was. He deceived many people out of money, didn't have the business, accomplishments that he said? What's my point? God knows what people are really like. When something is not right for you, you'll hear the alarm go off. You will feel an unrest. But you've got to do your part and not go against what you're sensing down in here. That's God speaking to you.

Too many people just ignore the warnings. When the alarm goes off, they push it down again and again. and usually it's because they want their own way. They don't realize God's ways are much better than our ways. God can see the big picture for your life. He can see the dead end that's around the corner that you can't see. He knows what's going to cause heartache and pain. He can see the shortcuts that'll get us somewhere quicker. You have to realize God always has your best interests at heart.

That opportunity may look great, but if there's an unrest, that simply means God has something better coming your way. Well, you say, Joel, this man I'm dating, I really like him. Got a good personality, makes good money, he's just right for me. That's great. If you feel good about it, move forward. There's a divine connection. But if there's an unrest, a check in your spirit, it's easy to do like me and think,

oh, I'm just being overly sensitive. After all, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I may never meet anyone like him. and if we're not careful, we'll push the alarm down again and again. That's what gets us off a God's best path. But understand, God is not trying to take anything away from you. He's not trying to make your life miserable. It's just the opposite.

He's trying to keep you from heartache and pain. Now, I've talked to person after person that have gone way down the road in a relationship that they didn't feel good about, and they end up hurt, disappointed, wasting valuable years. They tell me again and again, Joel, at the very beginning, I didn't feel peace about it. I knew down in here something wasn't right, but I went ahead anyway. What happened? God was giving them inside information. God gave them discernment, but they got caught up in the excitement and the emotion of the moment,

and they overrode what they were feeling down in here. God wants to lead us, but he's not going to drag us. if you will be sensitive, God will always give you a warning before you make a mistake. The alarm will go off. There will be an unrest. When you feel that, be wise enough to just step back, slow down, pay attention to what God is saying down in here. Colossians 315 puts it like this. Let peace act as an umpire, deciding with finality the decisions that arise in our minds. This is saying peace should be the deciding factor when it comes to the decisions we make. In other words, how do I feel about this situation? Do I have a peace or is there an unrest?

This principle can help us in our everyday life. On our recent trip to Australia, Victoria and I got up early one morning to go get breakfast. I noticed the way to walk by with a big stack of pancakes. I love pancakes, but I never eat them anymore. because they make me feel so lethargic and so blah when I do. But these pancakes smell so good. I thought this one time is not going to affect me. Besides, these are Australian pancakes.

These are special. So I ordered me a big stack of pancakes. The whole time down in here, I felt uneasy. Something was telling me, you better not eat them. They're going to make you feel bad. I thought, get behind me, Satan. That could not be God.

I want these pancakes. I ate three big ones and they were delicious. I thought that's exactly what I needed. Do you know 30 minutes later, I felt like I'd been run over by a truck. I had to go lay down. And that was a small decision with a small consequence. But how many people buy things that they didn't have peace about and how they hit over hills and death? How many people get into a relationship that they turn the alarm off again and again. Now it's a big mess. No, don't override what you're feeling down in here. Let peace act as the umpire, safe or out, yes or no. My father, for many years, tried to buy the property across the street from our first small church. There's a big open field with some cows out there grazing 20 acres. At that time, Lakewood only had two or three acres. That was barely enough for the 90 members to have services and park on. They didn't have any place to expand.

My father knew one day they were going to build a bigger sanctuary. His mind, that land was extremely valuable. So he went and met with the owners, and they agreed to sell it. They wanted $400,000, $20,000 an acre. That was a fair price back then. The owners even agreed to finance it themselves. My father was prepared to present it to the congregation, begin raising funds, but all of a sudden, he felt an unrest.

He didn't feel good about it. He pushed the alarm down, thought, oh, that's just my nerves. I'm just a little anxious because I've got to raise so much money. But week after week, it didn't go away. Every time he thought about it, he felt that uneasiness. Finally, he put it on hold, told the owners, we're not going to be able to purchase it. Five years later, my dad got all stirred up.

We need that property. Went back and met with the owners. They said, fine, we'll sell it to you for the same amount we asked before. My dad left there all fired up, thinking this is going to be when we're going to buy the property. But once again, as he went to present it to the church, he felt the alarm going off down in here. He thought, God, I don't understand it. You know we need this property.

It's valuable to us. He couldn't get comfortable, so he put it on hold. Five years later, 10 years after his original meeting, he went back to the owners. This time, the market was down. The economy was slow. The owner really needed to sell. When my father walked in, the owner said, We asked 20,000 an acre before.

How about we sell it to you for 5,000 an acre now? The price went from 400,000 to 100,000 10 years later. That's when Lakewood purchased all that other land. When you feel an uneasiness and unrest, it's not God trying to take something from you. It's God trying to get something to you. It's God saying, hey, wait a minute, I've got something better in store. I'm going to amaze you with my goodness.

Don't be hard-headed and have to be hard-headed and have to have it your way and your timing, if you'll let God lead you, he'll take it into some of these explosive blessings, blessings that thrust you to a new level. And sometimes, like with my father, we're pursuing the right thing. It's just not the right time. And I've learned this, that everything God has laid up for me, everything that has my name on it, nothing can stop me from that. No person can hold me back. No circumstance can stop me. Nothing can stand against our God. At the right time, God will make it happen. And I believe even right now, there is property with your name on it. There's a house with your name on it. There's a spouse with

your name on it. There's healing with your name on it. Promotion with your name on it. If you will stay in faith and just keep following that still small voice, then at the right time, what already has your name on it is going to be released to you. God will make sure you come in to the right opportunities, the right people, the right breaks. And you may have had closed doors in the past, but don't lose heart. It either wasn't the right time or God has something better coming your way. I want you to go out each day knowing that you have inside information. You have a counselor, an advisor, a helper living in you. It is the spirit of the most high God. Don't override what you're feeling down in here. That's God talking to. That's God talking to.

to you. He knows what's best. When you have a decision to make, let peace be the umpire. And if you'll learn to follow this knowing down in here, God will lead you and guide you down the best path for your life. Now, I want to declare this over each one of you. Receive these words, you have wisdom to make great decisions. You have discernment to know right from wrong. You have the ability to solve difficult problems. Because you have inside information, you're going to favor like you've never seen before. God's blessings are going to chase you down and overtake you. Supernatural connections, supernatural breakthroughs, supernatural doors are coming your way. Now, I believe and declare every dream, every promise, every desire God's put in your heart.

You will see that come to pass. Amen. Do you receive that today? We never like to close our broadcast without giving you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you, my Lord and Savior. Friends, if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good Bible-based church. Keep God first place. He's going to take your places you've never dreamed of. Breath taking, that's what you feel when you look out at majestic mountain peaks. Yes, God's creation truly is a masterpiece. But even as you consider his handiwork, you might also feel less that, not good enough, or not valuable. The image before you is incredible, but the confidence inside is lacking.

How do you overcome this? The opinion you have of yourself is your most important opinion. Too often, we see ourselves as ordinary, not talented, unattractive. That wrong self-image is setting the limits for our life. The key is to get an agreement with who God says you are. He calls you a masterpiece, strong, talented, valuable. If you'll have the right image of yourself, you'll rise higher and become who you were created to be. We have a new resource that will help you do just that.

It's called You Are a Masterpiece. It's filled with inspiration and encouragement that will remind you who you really are. Gifted, chosen, approved. It will help you get rid of the wrong self-image and start seeking. be in yourself as the masterpiece God created you to be. As our thank you for your gift of any amount to the ministry this month, we want to send you Joel's inspiring new book. You are a masterpiece.

God made you unique with a divine purpose and a bright future. As these truths sink down in your spirit, the majesty of God's glory will arise within you. Yes, God has breathed his life into you. He approved you, equipped you, empowered you. Stop believing the lies about you and start hearing what God says about you. Thanks so much for being a part of the ministry. Victoria and I pray for you and your family every day.

Believing it's going to be a favor-filled 2024. We appreciate your prayer and support. Your generosity is impacting people around the world. Remember, you can watch the services live online Sunday mornings, and see all the music and ministry, download our daily podcast. Until we meet again, may the Lord bless you and keep you.

Be sure to request your copy of the You are a masterpiece today. Visit joelosteen.com.